This invention relates to a class of phenylalkanoic acid compounds which are substituted by a 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofuran group and to ester, amide, acyl halide and pharmaceutically acceptable salts of said acids, to the use of these compounds as antimicrobial agents and to synthetic intermediates useful for their preparation.
Compounds wherein 2-nitro-3-phenylbenzofuran is substituted by an alkanoic acid group are known to have antimicrobial activity (see Belgian Pat. No. 846,502 and German Offenlegungsschrift No. P 2642877). However, in such compounds the alkanoic acid group is substituted on the 3-phenylbenzofuran portion of the molecule. Furthermore, they are prepared by different synthetic sequences and from different types of starting materials than are the compounds of the present invention.